Taylor Swift's new single 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'

Taylor Swift took to the Internet on Monday night to make a much buzzed-about announcement via live web chat with her fans, and as pretty much everyone guessed, the starlet announced the release date of her fourth album, Red, which will be available for purchase on Oct. 22.

But that’s not all she did. Swift also answered questions — rather eloquently, I’d say — about her upcoming album, and gave us a first listen to her brand new single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which is already the No. 1 song on iTunes. But more on that in a minute.

Swift, clad in a red dress and red lipstick, started the chat off by explaining her album’s title: “All the different emotions that are written about on this album are all pretty much about the kind of tumultuous, crazy, insane, intense, semi-toxic relationships that I’ve experienced in the last two years. All those emotions — spanning from intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion, all of that — in my mind, all those emotions are red. You know, there’s nothing in between. There’s nothing beige about any of those feelings.”

More juicy tidbits about Red:

The album will feature a whopping 16 tracks, and that’s not including bonus tracks that will be available in various places. “I have a really, really nice record label for letting me do that,” joked Swift.

You can expect more cryptic liner notes with secret messages… “It’s pretty difficult to come up with them,” Swift told the crowd, “because I know that you guys are going to figure it out.” Still, she thinks the effort is valuable: “I’m really excited about the fact that you guys care about lyrics. Hiding little codes in lyrics is kind of a way of encouraging that.”

Yes, there will be an Ed Sheeran collaboration on the album. Both singers were fans of each other (Swift loved his “Lego House” video), and they made it happen.

Sounds like a world tour could be in the works. “We’re going to be doing lots of traveling all over everywhere,” Swift told a pair of Swedish fans, before expressing a desire to head to South America soon. But that’s all she would say about tour plans. “That’s a whole other conversation.”

Swift wanted to make the album more than she wanted to appear on the silver screen. “I would love to do a movie that I was so obsessed with that I couldn’t think of anything other than shooting that movie,” said Swift, but she’s still holding off for a perfect project. “I love music, and I love touring, and I love seeing you guys all the time, and so it’s really hard to take time away from doing that. I don’t like to.”

Check out the new single!

After talking about her album, Swift unveiled her new song, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” which was produced by pop mastermind Max Martin — a.k.a. the man behind “I Want It That Way,” “Baby One More Time,” “Since U Been Gone,” “I Kissed A Girl,” and innumerable other number one smashes.

The track, which you can hear in the video below at the 21:00 mark, sounds like a brighter, more-polished Avril Lavigne tune, with an undeniable, instantly catchy hook. In typical Swift fashion, she’s telling off an ex-boyfriend, but there’s a rah-rah festive flair that makes the whole affair seem joyous rather than dour. Sure, it isn’t very country (though there is a country mix), but somehow I doubt her loyal fanbase will mind — they’ll be too busy singing along. That “Weeee-eeee are never ever ever.…” refrain is a total earworm, which should help distract from the song’s rather juvenile sensibilities (it definitely feels less mature than the breakup songs on Speak Now like “Back to December”), which may only further frustrate Swift’s critics.

What do you think? Excited for the return of the pop-country megastar? What do you think of her new single? Will you be picking up Red?